Built in the 1840s with the expectation it would the city hall of the capital of the country. It's a common myth that it was the site of Canada's parliament during the time when Kingston was capital, but it was always intended to be, and used as, City Hall.

Stylized depictions of City Hall and the clock tower are standard symbols of the city, pretty ubiquitous. Like in the municipal logo:

Built in the 1840s with the expectation it would the city hall of the capital of the country. It's a common myth that it was the site of Canada's parliament during the time when Kingston was capital, but it was always intended to be, and used as, City Hall.

Grand building for such a small town (but really nice!)
It really looks like a typical small State Capitol from that era.

It's interesting how you can see the continuum between more traditionally Canadian/Quebec-style architecture in Eastern Ontario and Midwestern architecture by the time you get to Windsor. When they go to Montreal, some people think that the limestone buildings (e.g. Bonsecours Market) are more or less direct French colonial era transplants but really they are an indigenous style that was popular all along the St. Lawrence and connected waterways.
There's a similar transition in Atlantic Canada when you go from the Atlantic coast to the Bay of Fundy area and PEI and then central and northern NB. Some of the differences are due to geology; you find more brick in the areas with appropriate clay soil. Wood is popular in areas with granite and harder rock that is very expensive to quarry. Nicer buildings in NS use Wallace sandstone or granite. Earlier buildings also used pyritic slate (ironstone) because it was locally available.

I've always thought of Bonsecours Market, and much of Old Montreal, as being a very British colonial confection, channeling a bit of the French heritage and taking advantage of Scots stonemasons. That would certainly be the case (minus the French heritage) in most of Eastern Ontario's stone constructions.

our city hall is both utilitarian and fugly, so I will spare your eyeballs.

Kingston's is gorgeous.

__________________The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth GalbraithWe must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.Elie Wiesel

I appreciate the variety in Canada's city halls. There are some really nice ones... oddly enough, the only crappy ones are the pomo junk and suburban office buildings from the 1980s and 90s.

Kitchener's looks like something straight out of Japan. Toronto has the most recognizable city hall. But my favourite is a tie between Hamilton's midcentury modern classic which should be a national icon, dammit, and Montreal's Second Empire spectacular.

She is a beaut. Excellent example of mid-century modern / international style architecture. I thought there was talks about tearing it down to build a new one maybe 10 years ago? The school board building across the street was also an interesting piece of architecture.. but it's toast now. Too bad.

London's on the other hand, is an ugly, I guess po-mo block. But not as bad as the hodge-podge mixture that is Mississauga's post-modern City Hall.

Richmond Hill's CH is actually only a "temporary" arrangement and a new City Hall is suppose to be constructed in the Downtown in the future.